Spatiotemporal CBF dynamics underlies emergence of limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical gradient and adaptive behavior in human infancy

Motivation: Infant cerebral blood flow (CBF) delivers nutrients to meet the brain’s energy demand for the fastest period of brain development across lifespan. Goal(s): The presented study delineates the organizing principle of whole-brain CBF dynamics during infancy. Approach: We optimized a state-of-the-art pseudo-continuous-arterial-spin-labeled (pCASL) sequence to obtain high-resolution spatiotemporal dynamics of infant CBF at isotropic 2.5mm. Results: We revealed infant physiological heterogeneity and found the emergence of the limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical gradient based on CBF. Infant regional CBF changes were also associated with their improved real-world developmental functioning. These normative charts of infant CBF can serve as atlases for research and clinical care. Impact: Capitalizing on a 3D multi-shot stack-of-spirals pCASL, we acquired the highest-resolution infant CBF maps available to date, discovered the emergence of the limbic-sensorimotor-association cortical gradient in infancy, and provide a standardized reference for infant CBF.